April 29, 2013

It finally feels like spring outside!!! Here I am going bare-legged, and feeling amazing about it.

photos by alyson greenfield

It's been awhile since I've posted any photos of myself. When I first started this blog, it was almost all style photos. My, how time passes...

Anyway, I got together for brunch with one of my besties, Alyson. When I asked her to take some shots, she turned out to be a natural behind the camera... mostly because we had soooo much fun doing it! A tiny and terrible secret: sometimes, taking outfit pics can feel like a chore. Often we're under pressure, he's been working all day, or it's late. I love it when it's spontaneous like this... you're just out having a good time, so the photos and the mood are energetic as a natural result.

I even think my hair looks kinda cute! Freshly washed, and no product.

Also, this girl awesomely photobombed us! She was walking by and just decided to start posing in some shots, while talking on the phone!! Check out the look of confusion and excitement on my face and in my body language. It was all pretty hilarious.

One last thing- I'm loving simple looks lately. Like really simple. I've started stockpiling these t-shirts that I found at Forever 21 for $5 each in different colors. I've been living in them.

April 26, 2013

I haven't done a "life moments" post in awhile, and that is sad. They're one of my favorite features here, and I'm going to make a better effort now that the weather is warmer. This winter has been cold and yucky, and I'm usually scurrying to the subway and back- not looking to casually stroll around and take photos.

It's still a tiny bit nippy, and thankfully spring is slowly but surely coming. I've been in Park Slope a lot lately for work. The buildings are lovely. I've been inspired by the cute little flower pots displayed outside the brownstones, and pretty pink petals strewn across the sidewalks.

In other news, I changed my About page a bit. Actually, I changed it a lot. I shortened it dramatically, though I might not keep it this way. I'd like to expand more on my story more, but haven't had time lately to write something real and proper. However, I also included some links from some of my favorite posts, as well as a directory of tags/ categories.

Tell me what you think!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Friday :)) Any plans for the weekend?

April 24, 2013

Ever heard of frisee? Probably not... but you should! It's a bitter, hearty tasting green that is much yummier than it sounds. I never would've known its existence if it hadn't been this fancy-dancy little restaurant I lived near, and used to have dinner at semi-frequently. I don't remember why exactly I was drawn to their frisee salad, other than that it was one of their cheaper options. But it's one of those meals that I still think about from time to time... three years later.

This is a pretty accurate attempt at recreating it, yet it's the simplest thing EVER. You will need approximately two ingredients: Butter and frisee lettuce.

Now you may be thinking- "Butter on greens??? No way." Except... yes. You don't just pour straight butter all over lettuce, you brown it first. Take about a Tbs of butter, and melt it on medium/ high heat. It will brown up quite quickly.

After the butter is done, wait a few minutes for it to cool off.

Then slowly drizzle the butter on 2 cups of frisee in a bowl, and toss it with a fork to coat it. This will make one serving.

April 21, 2013

On Friday, I scored tickets to a Q&A session at NYU with Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman.

Front row seats!!!

I've had mixed feelings about this artist. If you don't know Amanda Palmer, let's basically leave it at this- former frontwoman of the Dresden Dolls, she is an independent musician who raised 1.2 million dollars on kickstarter last year. She's reached unprecedented success as an indie artist, and posesses a stubborn will to keep growing in an industry that won't.

But despite all these things, and every music blog I read demanding that I worship at her alter because of these things, I just couldn't.

She's obviously a genius marketer. Not to mention talented. And her whole "artists need to make money too" ethos is completely in line with my beliefs. Still, something always rubbed me the wrong way. I guess my opinion was cemented when it came out that she asked musicians to volunteer their services for one of her recent world tours in return for "beer and hugs."

There was a huge backlash. She obviously has a very special relationship with her fans, and many of them were happy to oblige what she asked. And as a "starving artist", I totally understand the struggle that comes with the costs of putting your art out there. But I just think... if you have the money, and she clearly did, you should pay people for their time. If you don't, then you're setting a precedent of devaluing others' work, and undermining future generations' ability to seek artistic and financial freedom. It's just what's fair.

So I went to the talk with an open mind, hoping to learn something new. And I did :) First of all, she opened with a line that was something like "What do I do? I used to be a musician, and now I spend most of my life on the internet." I instantly related, seeing as I've been spending more time blogging than songwriting for awhile now :P She also actually admitted that in the past two years, she's written only two songs. I really respected her honesty, and could very much relate. The creative process can be a daunting one when your energy is constantly being redirected elsewhere.

She's an incredible, engaging speaker. And while my mind wasn't completely changed about the volunteer musicians thing, I can see where she was coming from. She struck me as someone who is level-headed, examines herself and her decisions, and that I desperately, desperately want to to have a beer with. I also left the talk feeling a profound sense of renewed inspiration.

Well... this is Sunday SONGS afterall, not Sunday Artist Critique, so I thought I'd leave you with this video (WATCH IT.) They played it at the talk. I was riveted for the whole seven minutes... but the tears were streaming down my face within thirty seconds. I quietly died inside, as I thanked god it was dark inside that theater.

April 19, 2013

I've got an announcement to make this week. I'm an April contributor at Indie Gift Box. This is a company that presents a curated collection of monthly goodies from independent artists and small businesses.

A few months ago, I was approached by Erin, who asked me if I'd like to be included. So I packed up 100 or so cd's, and shipped them off! If you've been thinking about purchasing the Up to the Moon EP, you could get a gift box, and not only get my cd, but some other cute and amazing swag from other indie businesses!

Also, sadly, this company won't be making the boxes anymore after May. So it's a nice time to order one while you can :)

April 17, 2013

I'd been meaning to get this done for at least a few months now... the designing and ordering of new business cards. I've been running low on the old ones for awhile, and these were cheap as heck at nextdayflyers.com... $18 for 1000! I'm pretty excited that I finally have some cards my new branding on them. I've been giving out the old ones all year long, even as my site, newest cd, and other materials were completely different. And this is a little embarrassing, but they're so old that they even had my myspace address on it, as well as a totally outdated description of my music (on the back.)

It's nice to have new cards. But part of me thinks that soon, I'll want to just scrap everything and go in a totally new direction. Some people like to keep their "signature" look for years. I get bored looking at the same logo over and over again, and have been feeling a bit sick of my newest look, haha.

Well, I guess it's not really "new" anymore, seeing it's been about a year since the last site redesign. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about a total re-brand. Some of you might have noticed- I've been recently making some tweaks to the site... taking away the background, then changing up the header. I also want to re-do the nav bar soon.

I feel like I need to keep things consistent with the look of my last album, which is why I kept the same font that I used for the cover, and the white background. At the same time, I have a desire to simplify everything, while still holding onto my core personality.

Sometimes though, I find it hard to fully express what it is that I want to convey via fonts, design elements, and colors. I learn things as I go. Doing my own designs only started as a necessity, and a way to trim costs. It was never my chosen artistry, though it is useful :)

So. I'm feeling a spring cleaning coming on... I want to start more clearly defining what this space is for, who I am, and what kind of people I want to attract here. I want to find better ways to tie together my life's musical track, and the writing/ photography I do on the blog. Though it is hard to know my "branding identity" when there are just so many directions I'm going in. I want to be so many different things, but sometimes I can't.

I want to "have it all."

Anyway... yeah. That's how I'm feeling today. I do hope you like the cards though :) I'm happy. xxo

April 16, 2013

Just wanted to drop everyone a note about this cool giveaway that I'm a part of... Emily from Anna Delores photography asked if I'd like to be a part of it with her, and I thought it was awesome! I love the idea of multiple bloggers coming together to bring all our readers an incredible prize. And it is pretty incredible...